Joe Namath: Jets seem more interested in headlines than winning

Posted by Michael David Smith on August 29, 2012, 12:06 PM EDT

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Joe Namath has resumed ripping the Jets.

Namath, the Hall of Fame former Jets quarterback who has spent much of the past year questioning the current direction of the franchise, was at it again today in an interview with Adam Schein on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

Namath also said that if the Jets are going to pull Mark Sanchez to have Tim Tebow run the wildcat, that’s a strong indication that they don’t believe Sanchez has what it takes to run the offense effectively.

“The only reason to run the wild cat is if your offense isn’t working,” Namath said.

But despite Namath’s grave concerns about the Jets’ offense, he also said he thinks the Jets’ defense is good enough that they should win nine or 10 games this season. Which means that, for all his criticism, Namath is probably higher on the Jets than most NFL observers are. Which doesn’t speak well for the views of the Jets around the NFL.

Joe how many ways can you say the same thing? Go back into retirement obscurity… Legends are usually looked up to, every time you open your mouth I see a drunk, babbling buffoon. By the way, Suzy Kolber sends her regards…

Namath thinks the Jets seem more interested in headlines? Namath would be one to know.

While I don’t disagree with his assessment, it was Namath who set the precedent. He loved to bask in the limelight, do commercials with pantyhose on, be seen out on the town with beautiful women hanging on his arm. Yet, if not for Super Bowl III, he’d certainly not be in the Hall of Fame. He is, by far, the worst QB in the Hall, and probably the most unworthy player ever inducted into the HOF.

The Jets of today are more interested in headlines, and you can thank Rex Ryan for that. But then again, Rex is only following Namath’s example. Meanwhile the Giants are holding the Lombardi trophy for the second time in five seasons.

I am so sick of Namath ripping on the Jets all the time. He isn’t a part of the organization, so he shouldn’t have to have an opinion on everything. I’m not a Jets fan by the way, and I think it will be hilarious to watch the implosion this year. That being said, I think Jets fans have to be annoyed with Namath. He wasn’t even a great statistical QB or the prototype of what you want in a pocket passer and when they were on Hard Knocks hes trying to give QB advice. Why was he even there?

I think Namath does make some valid points, the problem is he goes about it in all the wrong ways. He comes off as almost bitter. And this really clouds any validity he comments may have, which is Sanchez is clearly not the answer @ QB and Woody Johnson loves the back pages!

How’d you like to be Joe Namath? Wake up. Rip on the Jets to whatever media outlet asks your opinion. Know full well that the Jets can’t and won’t ever say anything about it. Work on your tan. Then kiss your Super Bowl ring goodnight.

joshm5683 says:
Aug 29, 2012 12:36 PM
I am so sick of Namath ripping on the Jets all the time. He isn’t a part of the organization, so he shouldn’t have to have an opinion on everything.
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So he should not have an opinion on a sport that he actually played, on a team that he actually played for and on a championship that he has actually won?

Funny how you can have an opinion but not Joe Namath should not.
The same people that rip Namath for talking come here and rant day after day as if they actually know more about the NFL then this guy does.

Sanchez isn’t the best QB but he is far better than Joe Namath who only had more TDs than Ints in his rookie year and every year had a negative TD/INT ratio and an completed on 50% of his passes for his career. Joe Namath is the most overrated Hall of Famer ever.

If there was 1 guy you could eliminated from the Pro Football Hall of Fame it would be Joe Namath. More INT than TD’s (173-220) A 50.1% Completion %, 65.5 QB Rating, and only 27K yards. What a worthless turd from a worthless team. Good thing Curtis Martin got in the HOF this year so the Jets could say they actually have a real HOF player.

It’s amazing how much attention and scrutiny is paid towards the Jets and yet no one pays attention. This doesn’t just fall on mainstream or local media. This falls on the fans and former players.

The Jets have been using a form of the “wildcat” since 2006 . Before the Miami craze. The legendary Joe Namath who is supposed to have knowledge of the team should know that the Jets used the “wildcat” effectively on their way to AFC Championship games in 2010 and 2011.

Tim Tebow was traded for to upgrade the Jets backup quarterback position. See Mark Brunell and to help replace Brad Smith. Period. It is about winning games nothing more. That’s all Rex Ryan and the Jets care about. Joe Namath should know that and yet somehow knows so little about his own team.

Enough of this media hype. As a Jets fan I fully believe the media is just as much if not more responsible for this attention the Jets are getting. Rex and Co. are not going out there reaching for reporters to chat to, the media is going directly to them because it causes exactly this. Rex is the kind of guy and coach that says what he feels (he shouldnt be as much).

Also, as a fan I understand this is a business and to some extent a entertainment industry. The league is full of charcaters that the media and fans love to cover for ratings.

Those who rip Joe and say he doesn’t deserve the HOF are lunatics. You base your assumption purely on statistics. Joe was a great winning QB- a game changer. He took a marginal team and made them winners of the biggest upset in NFL history.
Having the honor to see him play in person several times was awe inspiring, even though it was against my team.

Hearing him criticize the Jets is akin to Rich Gannon criticising the Raiders a few years back.
The truth hurts sometimes.

What a joke to compare Sanchez with Namath. Sanchez is a bad qb in the current era, in namaths era he would be infinatly more terrible. That is of course if he could have even lasted one game, the qb was hit on every single passing play back then, and I mean driven to the ground even if he got the pass off. No silly rules to protect the qb, oh and back then if you threw it away out of bounds that was grounding, inside or outside of the pocket that’s why most qbs from that era had so many ints and incompletions….and that’s not even considering that the receivers were allowed to get hit anywhere on the field going out for a pass…

I’m not sure if the point here is whether or not fans should be sick of Joe’s comments, or if he wants or wanted publicity, or if he had a great career, or should be in the HOF. It seems to me the question surrounding the article is whether his opinion regarding the Jets being overly concerned about garnering headlines is salient or not. All the other above points don’t seem to have much connection to his expressed opinion. I don’t really care about the Jets one way or another, however I can certainly see why someone might have the opinion that headlines are, in fact important to the Jets. They did the reality show last season, they made a big deal about MS doing GQ, eating hot dogs, the women he dated/dates, they have REX RYAN as coach for God’s sake and of course there is the whole Tim Tebow circus. I really have NO dog in this fight, but it seems to me that thinking the Jets seem to enjoy headlines does not indicate a malfunction in a person’s sense of logic!!